130 
boys’ department. 
Uojjs’ ^Department 
A CHAPTER ON GRASSES.—No. 4. 
Rice ( Oryza sativa) was cultivated in the East, 
long before it was introduced into Egypt, from 
whence it was taken to Greece. It was brought to 
Carolina about the year 1700.(a) By some writers 
it is placed second to wheat, as affording food to a 
larger proportion of human beings than any known 
grain, though intrinsically of less value. It has al¬ 
tered the face of the globe, and the destinies of na¬ 
tions ; for there can be no reasonable doubt, it is to 
this grain that the Chinese and Hindoos owe their 
early civilization. Immense districts of country 
would have remained irreclaimable and desolate, if 
nature had not granted to a simple grass, the pro¬ 
perty of growing exclusively in marshy and inun¬ 
dated grounds. The Chinese method of cultivating 
is very curious, and if any of the boys want to 
know about it, they must let me know, and I will 
give a description of it, for their benefit, at some 
future time. 
Though generally capable of coming to maturity 
only in hot countries, there is a kind, probably an¬ 
other species, hardy enough to flourish even on the 
edge of the Himalayan snows; and a small crop of 
the common kind, is said to have ripened its seeds in 
England, on the banks of the river Thames. 
A quarter of a pound of rice, boiled slowly, will 
yield more than a pound of solid nutritious food. 
The early history of Rye, ( Secale cereale ), the 
only known species of the genus, is veiled in ob¬ 
scurity, as completely as that of any other grain, 
though it has been cultivated in Europe, from time 
immemorial. It affords the principal food of the 
peasants, in the greater part of the North of Eu¬ 
rope, and even in the more genial climate of the 
south and middle provinces of Franee, the lower class 
of people seldom know any other than rye bread. 
Little more than a quarter of a century ago, it was 
the universal custom, in France and Germany, as it 
still is in Poland and Russia, for travellers to carry 
their own provisions, as nothing better was to be 
found at the relay houses, and the best hotels, even 
upon the most frequented roads, than the coarsest 
rye, or barley bread ; and it was no unusual occur¬ 
rence for the postilions to share with their horses, 
their allowance of this black, but not unpalatable 
bread. 
Barley (both the Hordeum vulgare and Hordeum dis- 
tichum) is extensively cultivated for brewing beer; 
the latter being preferred by some farmers, as ripen¬ 
ing earlier, and yielding a heavier grain. In Eu¬ 
rope, it is used as food for man as well as horses ; 
barley bread being the chief vegetable diet of the 
peasants in Norway, Sweden, Siberia, and even in 
the mountainous parts of Scotland. 
Oats ( Avena sativa ), though making a coarse 
kind of bread, used by the poorest inhabitants of 
the most northern regions of Europe, is raised there 
principally, as it is here exclusively, as food for 
horses. An inappreciable quantity being made into 
oat meal, is a light, wholesome diet for sick per¬ 
sons. 
Two or three hundred years ago, when the occult 
sciences were much in fashion, and learned men 
believed the baser metals could be transmuted into 
gold, it should not have surprised us to learn, that 
they thought the cultivated grains were liable to 
similar changes, through the influence of soil and 
climate. Thus they affirmed, wheat became rye, 
when sown upon a worn-out soil; that, after a time, 
under unfavorable influences, turned to barley, 
which degenerated to oats—which, by longer ne¬ 
glect, became hay-grass, from which, the transition 
to broom-grass or cheat was easy and sure. These 
adepts did not stop here, but believed that, with 
careful culture and fertile soil, the seed of this same 
cheat, would be made to perform a retrograde move¬ 
ment, as far on the same road, as would bring it 
back to rye; but, higher in the scale it could not 
be made to go—never having been known to be¬ 
come wheat again. It is a pity their patience did 
not hold out a little longer, and the wonder might 
have been completed. Recollecting the ignorance 
of natural science, which was universal in those 
times, such credulity can be forgiven; but can we 
be equally lenient ? Can we account for the un¬ 
doubted fact, that in this enlightened age, there are 
to be found intelligent men, who hesitate not to de¬ 
clare their belief in the change, and that they have 
investigated the subject, and have witnessed the 
gradual passage of wheat into cheat, if it be al¬ 
lowed to grow wild on a thin, sterile soil ? As 
well might they expect a crop of water melons from 
a pumpkin vine. 
Perhaps some clever boy will make the experi¬ 
ment ; let him proceed cautiously. Bake a bushel 
of earth, which will make it poor enough, and des¬ 
troy all the seeds that might be mingled with the 
most carefully sifted—then spread it out thickly, 
over a garden plot, where no grain has been grown 
for years, or over a sod would be better, and then 
sow some wheat that has been picked grain by 
grain ; and next year, publish the result. E. S. 
Eutawah. 
(a) It would appear, from the Oriental Reper¬ 
tory, that, as early as 1698, rice was cultivated in 
Carolina, as 60 tons were imported from that colo¬ 
ny into England, that year. 
FACTS IN NATURAlT HISTORY FOR BOYS 
TO LEARN. 
Is there any difference in the mode of lying down 
of a horse or an ox? Is it true that a horse, in 
getting up, rises first on his fore legs, before rising 
upon his hind ones ? and that an ox, on the con¬ 
trary, rises first upon his hind legs, and often re¬ 
mains a few seconds upon his knees until his hind 
legs are straightened ? 
When the tail of a dog is of two colors, and 
one of them white, what color is the tip end ? 
When the legs of turkeys and hens are black, 
what color are the bottoms of their feet ? 
If a strange dog approach you, and you stoop as 
if to pick up a stone, will he run away or come 
nearer to you ? 
To PREVENT THE YELLOWS IN PEACH-TREES.- 
It is said, and upon pretty good authority, that about 
one quart of strong potash ley, poured round the 
body and roots of a peach-tree, twice a year, will 
prevent the yellows; and even restore them after 
they are diseased. 
